B V 

4501 



I 



My Religion 



N Everyday Life 



i ! f 






JosiAH Strong 




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THE TIMES AND YOUNG MEN. By 
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MY RELIGION IN 
EVERYDAY LIFE 



MY RELIGION IN 
EVERYDAY LIFE 



BY 

JOSIAH STRONG 

Author of ''Our Country,'' ''The New Era,'' "The 

Challenge of the City," "Expansion," "The 

Next Great Awakening," "The Times 

and Young Men," etc, etc. 



NEW YORK 

THE BAKER & TAYLOR COMPANY 

1910 









Copyright, 1910 

BY 

THE BAKER & TAYLOR COMPANY 

Published, August, 1910 



Ci.A2R8987 



FOREWORD 

The results of modem Biblical criti- 
cism, the passing of theology into solu- 
tion, and the shifting of the currents of 
thought have made it difficult for many 
men to keep their religion. 

What a man really needs is a religion 
that will keep Mm, — keep him patient 
and strong and hopeful under the wear 
and tear of life; keep him sufficiently 
alive and growing to readjust himself 
to changing conditions; keep his face 
to the future and maintain and deepen 
his interest in the public welfare and 
the progress of the world ; keep his heart 
warm toward God and his brother men. 

The man of strong religious convic- 
tions is confident that the future life 



Foreword 

will stamp his particular faith as the 
genuine thing, and that the deluded be- 
lievers in other isms will then he forced 
to recognize the superiority of his. 

But I submit that a religion is to be 
tested by this life rather than the next. 
If our conceptions of heaven are at all 
correct, it is a deal harder to keep clean 
and unselfish and faithful down here 
than it is up there. We are supposed 
to have got through with temptations, 
struggles, disappointments and bereave- 
ments when we reach heaven. It is when 
the tempest is driving us toward the 
rocks that the anchor and chain are 
tested, not after we have reached the 
peaceful harbor. 

The real question is what is a man's 
religion worth to him here and now? 
What does it enable him to become, and 
what does it inspire him to do? And it 
is very unlikely that the religion which 

6 



Foreword 

makes most of a man here will make less 
than the most of him hereafter. 

This is a practical age and we are a 
practical people, hence it is not the 
theory but the practice of religion which 
appeals to us. Not creed, not logic, but 
experience is the test. That religion is 
best which in a great variety of circum- 
stances works best. 

The past fifty years have been prob- 
ably the most interesting half century 
in the history of the world ; and doubt- 
less the two great revolutions which 
have taken place — the one in the world 
of thought, the other in the physical 
world — requiring a double readjust- 
ment of life, have put as great a strain 
on religious faith as it is likely to suif er 
at any time. 

My religious experience has covered 
precisely that period, and has enabled 
me to make a readjustment of faith and 

7 



Foreword 

life which was of vital importance. This 
change was made not only without loss 
of faith, but with unspeakable gain of 
conviction, of joy and, I trust, of use- 
fulness. 

The vast majority of the members of 
our churches have not yet made this re- 
adjustment. Many are in the midst of 
the process, and not a few are losing 
their way. 

It has been thought that my experi- 
ence might be helpful to others. Hence 
on the following invitation of an editor 
I have told what my religion means to 
me. 

The less restricted limits of this little 
book permit me to expand somewhat 
the original paper. 

I hope that it may help many to en- 
large their religion to the full measure 
of life. 



8 



Foreword 

The Circle Magazine. 
Dear Dr. Strong: 

I am asking a number of people who 
are prominent in the world of laymen a 
question which I wish also to put to 
you, as a sincere Christian rather than 
a minister of the Gospel. 

What does your Faith really mean 
to you? 

To one man his religion is a creed; 
to another a hope; to a third an anchor. 
To one man it is an actual factor in his 
daily life and business, a spur to am- 
bition, a source of power through 
prayer, a check against wrong doing; 
to another it is a vague indefinite spirit- 
ual exaltation; to another still, a matter 
of Sunday services and Wednesday 
prayer meetings. To some men it is 
all of these things, and to others per- 
haps something entirely different. 

I am trying to find out just what 

9 



Foreword 

their faith means to some men who have 
achieved things and held close to their 
God. I want to find out what it means 
in a practical way — just how it gives 
them strength in their work^ if it does, 
or in what other way it is a thing of 
value to them. I do not care what it 
means to them as a creed or a doctrine. 
I want to know what it is as a work- 
ing PRINCIPLE. 

The others whom I am approaching 
with this request are not clergymen^ 
hut I should like also to hear from you, 
although, as I said, not as a minister. 

Will you let me have your answer 
in the form of an article of three or 
four thousand words? 

Very truly yours, 

P. W. Hansl, 
Managing Editor. 
The reply to this letter forms the 
substance of the following pages. 

10 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. How JMy Religious Expe- 
rience Began . . • . 1 
II. The Individualistic Point 

OF View 9 

III. The Social Point of View 21 



\ 



HOW MY RELIGIOUS EXPERI- 
ENCE BEGAN 



My Religion in Everyday Life 



HOW MY RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE BEGAN 

You want me to tell what my re- 
ligion means to me. I answer, every- 
thing. I say it advisedly and mean it 
literally, everything. What cannot be 
some part of my religion must not be 
any part of my life. 

Religion has two elements, — knowl- 
edge or belief, and experience or life. 
One who does not undertake to trans- 
late his convictions into action, may 
have a creed but has no religion. If 
a man is not going to live his belief, it 
matters little what it is, whether his 
creed has one article or thirty-nine or 
five thousand, as one Scotch creed is 

15 



My Religion in Everyday Life 

said to have had. But the moment he 
begins to put his behef into practice, it 
becomes a matter of vital importance 
whether it is true and adequate. If a 
ship is going to ride at anchor until 
she rots, it does not make a straw's dif- 
ference whether her chart and compass 
are false or true ; but if she puts to sea, 
they must be true or she will be more 
likely to find the rocks than the desired 
port. 

I shall tell you how my religious ex- 
perience began, how for many years the 
common interpretation of Christianity 
produced in my case the common re- 
ligious experiences, and then how a dif- 
ferent interpretation of the teachings 
of Jesus vastly enlarged and enriched 
my life, making my religion mean 
everything to me. 

I was blest with Christian parents 
who were solicitous for the religious 

16 



My Religion in Everyday Life 

life of their children. We were in- 
structed in those religious teachings 
which prevailed in New England 
throughout the greater part of the 
nineteenth century and are still com- 
mon in the United States. They were 
well calculated to develop the con- 
science, and appealed to it with the 
most powerful sanctions of time and 
eternity. 

While still very young I had a deep 
sense of right and wrong, but often 
stubbornly resisted my convictions of 
duty. I loved dearly to have my own 
way, in which I was much like most 
people, and when crossed I flew into 
an uncontrolled passion. 

The continued pressure of Christian 
influence and my continued resistance 
of it increased my antipathy to every- 
thing religious until I was often very 
wretched. I distinctly remember en- 

17. 



My Religion in Everyday Life 

vying the chickens, the cat, a worm — 
anything that was not accountable. I 
was afraid of my immortahty. 

Of course I drove away such 
thoughts, but they were forced upon 
me in many ways at short intervals un- 
til I reached the age of thirteen. 

How vividly I remember the Sunday 
afternoon when the great struggle 
came! I can see myself alone in the 
parlor, standing near the corner of the 
organ, with my back to the window. I 
had been trying for some time to live 
a Christian life without letting a soul 
know it — at home, in school or any- 
where else. The conviction was now 
forced upon me that I must openly 
acknowledge my purpose ; but that was 
precisely the hardest thing in the world 
to do. If known in the home, my many 
shortcomings and especially my fits of 
temper would appear all the more 

18 



My Religion in Everyday Life 

glaring in the light of my newly ex- 
pressed purpose. If known at school, 
I should doubtless attract abundant 
ridicule, for I should be singular. 
There was not a boy in the village who 
professed to be a Christian. 

I was not aware, at the time, of the 
full significance of the struggle. I did 
not know that it was the great turn- 
ing point of my life. Of course life 
is full of turning points, but that is 
supreme in which the will is uncondi- 
tionally surrendered to duty regardless 
of cost or consequence; when it is set- 
tled that henceforth conviction must 
mean action, that belief must be trans- 
lated into life. This is the beginning 
of a real religious experience. 

Happily this supreme question gen- 
erally presents itself not in abstract 
but in concrete form. If the duty is 
the most difficult imaginable, surrender 

19 



My Religion m Everyday Life 

to it is decisive because the greater in- 
cludes the less. 

The specific question which came to 
me was: "Are you willing to go to 
the Young People's meeting next 
Tuesday evening, stand on your feet, 
and say that you desire and intend to 
live a Christian life?" 

If others were taking the step, or if 
the pastor would only give an invita- 
tion, it would be so much easier. But 
there was no special religious interest 
in the church or in the community; the 
help of an invitation would not be 
given; every one would be startled; 
and in that little village world it would 
be proclaimed on the housetop next 
day. 

Such a prospect to a diffident boy 
of thirteen was simply appalling, but 
my mind was made up and I said, " I'll 
do it." Instantly the distress I had 

20 



My Religion in Everyday Life 

long felt vanished, and a strange un- 
speakable peace possessed me. 

I did not know then that I had 
obeyed the command, " If any man will 
come after me, let him deny himself 
and take up his cross and follow me/' 
Self-will had been crucified. 



21 



THE INDIVIDUALISTIC 
POINT OF VIEW 



II 

THE INDIVIDUALISTIC POINT OF VIEW 

Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress has been 
regarded by the Protestant churches 
as second only to the Bible. It is the 
best possible embodiment of the in- 
dividualistic interpretation of Chris- 
tianity. Pilgrim's whole journey from 
start to finish was a struggle for per- 
sonal safety. The author, with the 
artistic skill of genius, depicts the spir- 
itual experiences of that type of Chris- 
tian. Bunyan's immortal dream might 
be called a pictorial personification of 
the individualistic teaching of the 
Westminster catechism. I was brought 
up on both. I am glad I had that 
teaching, and I am gladder that I out- 
grew it. 

85 



My Religion in Everyday Life 

But to outgrow it required twenty- 
five years or more. Meanwhile I 
passed through those rehgious experi- 
ences which naturally, and perhaps in- 
evitably, attend the individualistic con- 
ception of religion and of life. 

Fundamental to this conception is 
the old and mischievous distinction be- 
tween the " sacred " and the " secular." 
Thus the ministry is a "sacred" call- 
ing; all other occupations are "secu- 
lar." Preaching is serving God; get- 
ting a living is worldly. A portion of 
our time and money belongs to God; 
the remainder is our own and may 
properly be devoted to " secular " uses. 
There is believed to be an antagonism 
between soul and body, and many have 
afflicted the flesh for the benefit of the 
spirit. It is supposed that the interests 
of time are in conflict with those of 
eternity and that religion requires us 
to sacrifice the former to the latter. 

26 



My Religion in Everyday Life 

This distinction thus runs a line of 
cleavage throughout life, cutting it into 
two distinct and conflicting spheres, 
creating a radically false philosophy of 
life, and making a lot of trouble for 
every one who attempts to live in both 
of those spheres at the same time. 
Such an attempt is like the traditional 
endeavor to ride two horses that are 
going in opposite directions. The re- 
sult is repeated falls as long as the ef- 
fort is persisted in. 

In medieval times many, being thor- 
oughly in earnest to " gain heaven at 
last," tried to solve the problem by re- 
tiring from ''the world" and making 
the whole life sacred, that is, religious. 
Nowadays most men are frankly 
worldly. They mount the one horse 
and very likely ride it to death. 

But the people who are really try- 
ing to be religious generally have, as 
I said, a lot of trouble. The soul is in- 

27 



My Religion in Everyday Life 

habiting a body; and if the two are in 
conflict, the man has a perpetual quar- 
rel with himself. Moreover, the body- 
must live in a material world, and be 
ministered to with material things. 
The man must earn a livelihood, unless 
soul and body are to be permanently di- 
vorced. But plowing corn and build- 
ing houses and keeping books and 
practicing law — all these are " secular '' 
and worldly, not religious. And not be- 
ing connected with God, they alienate 
thought and affection from him. Thus 
the religion of the would-be earnest 
Christian is always " waxing cold." He 
wants to give a part of his time and a 
part of his money to God, but somehow 
the world is always getting the lion's 
share. If he really has some spiritual 
life, he mourns his frequent falls. 

The old-time prayer meetings, now 
nearly extinct, and the hymns which 

28 



My Religion in Everyday Life 

were sung in them were full of such 
confessions. " These cold hearts of 
ours " were there week after week, year 
in and year out. They could never get 
warm enough to stay warm. "We 
have done those things which we ought 
not to have done, and have left undone 
those things which we ought to have 
done " has become the classical confes- 
sion of the prevailing type of Christian. 

What "worldly" enterprise or or- 
ganization of any sort ever won suc- 
cess whose members could habitually 
and as a matter of course bring such 
an indictment against themselves? 

Such an atmosphere is absolutely 
fatal to enthusiasm. There have been 
many enthusiastic armies, many en- 
thusiastic scientific expeditions, many 
enthusiastic business organizations. 
The men who are cutting the Panama 
canal are all these in one, and have an 

29 



My Religion in Everyday Life 

enthusiasm which lasts three hundred 
and sixty-five days in the year. They 
can hardly talk of anything else. A 
member of the Commission recently 
said to me, "My wife was giving a 
dinner party the other evening, and 
threatened to shy a plate at every man 
who said ^ steam-shoveU I replied, 
' My dear, you'll have to break all your 
china.' " 

Why is it so difficult to arouse a 
church to enthusiasm? Now and then 
there is an individual whose religious 
zeal burns with a steady fire; and fre- 
quently a church is aroused to a feverish 
activity for a time, but the fever is cer- 
tain to be followed by a chill. Who 
ever heard of a church whose member- 
ship as a whole was enthusiastic seven 
days in the week, year after year? 

Many an army, many a scientific 
expedition, many a business corporation 

30 



My Religion in Everyday Life 

has been able to say with Paul's splen- 
did wholeness, " This one thing I 
do"; hence sustained enthusiasm and 
assured success. But that is precisely 
what the church cannot say. Most of 
its members, because improperly in- 
structed, are trying to live two differ- 
ent hves, one "sacred," the other '' sec- 
ular"; they are trying to live in two 
different and conflicting worlds; they 
are trying to serve two masters, which 
by the best possible authority has been 
pronounced impracticable. 

According to this dualistic interpre- 
tation of Christianity, by far the greater 
part of the perfect life was " secular." 
Jesus was a carpenter much longer than 
he was a preacher. But whatever his 
occupation, he was " about his Father's 
business," which made all his life sacred. 
Religion can never include our whole 
lives until our daily work is a part 



My Religion in Everyday Life 

of our religion, because the everyday 
work of every man is and ought to be 
the greater part of his life. 

For upwards of twenty-five years I 
was in bondage to this dualistic theory 
of life, during which time my religion 
meant to me certain things, but not 
everything. It meant the salvation of 
souls, and that certainly was much ; but 
there were a thousand things in life 
which so far as I could see sustained 
no relation to soul saving. These 
things, therefore, were ''secular'^ and 
not included in my religious life. Of 
some of these, for instance, manly 
sports, music and art, I was exceed- 
ingly fond. I regarded them as per- 
missible to a certain extent, but instead 
of making them tributary to my spir- 
itual growth and using them to the 
glory of God, I trained myself to look 

32 



My Religion in Everyday Life 

on them with a suspicious eye, lest they 
become snares of the devil. 

But no young man could be insen- 
sible to the profound changes which 
were taking place both in material civi- 
lization and in the world of ideas. The 
industrial organization with its divi- 
sion of labor was creating a new social 
interdependence, and there was begin- 
ning to develop a new social spirit, so 
that the old individualistic interpreta- 
tion of Christianity was more out of 
joint with the facts of life than ever. 
Then, too, the scientific method was de- 
molishing many popular beliefs in all 
spheres of human thought. Theology 
was going into solution, and many 
good people were saying, ''If the 
foundations be removed, what shall 
the righteous do? '' 



ss 



THE SOCIAL POINT OF VIEW 



Ill 

THE SOCIAL POINT OF VIEW 

Then came the social interpretation 
of Christianity and the rediscovery of 
the Kingdom of God, which to me 
proved to be the great organizing prin- 
ciple, bringing order out of chaos, 
solving not only the great social prob- 
lems of the new civilization, but also 
the problems of the individual as well, 
and destroying the accepted distinction 
between the " sacred " and the " secu- 
lar," thus eliminating the old dualism 
and making religion inclusive of the 
entire life. 

But to understand what the social 
interpretation of Christianity has done 
for my religion and my life, we must 

37 



My Religion in Everyday Life 

look more closely at this organizing 
principle, namely, the Kingdom of 
God. 

It is evident to every thoughtful 
reader of the three synoptic gospels 
that the Kingdom of God and its com- 
ing in the world was the great burden 
of Jesus' teaching. To misunder- 
stand, therefore, what he^meant by that 
expression is to misunderstand his mes- 
sage, and to misunderstand Christian- 
ity. It is, then, of the utmost impor- 
tance to ascertain what he meant by it. 
He did not define it, because it had 
been familiar to Jewish ears for many 
centuries. 

The application of the scientific 
method to God's revelation in nature 
has wonderfully enriched the world's 
knowledge and given to us the modern 
sciences. It is not strange, therefore, 
that the application of the same method 

38 



My Religion in Everyday Life 

to God's revelation in the scriptures of 
the Old and New Testaments should 
cause "new light to break forth from 
His word." 

In this light we see that by this ex- 
pression, "the Kingdom of God/' the 
old Hebrew prophets did not mean 
heaven, the home of the blessed dead, 
of which they knew little, nor did they 
mean by it, the Christian church, visi- 
ble or invisible, of which they knew 
nothing at all. It meant an ideal world, 
a world brought into harmony with 
the will of God, and therefore enriched 
with every blessing, spiritual and tem- 
poral. 

Jesus in his first sermon said he had 
not come to destroy the teachings of the 
prophets, but to fulfill them. He not 
only taught us to pray, " Thy kingdom 
come, thy will be done in earth as it 
is in heaven," but in his teachings, life 

39 



My Religion in Everyday Life 

and death he revealed the means by 
which I beheve this ideal world can be 
realized. 

He unmistakably taught immortal- 
ity and a heaven in another world, but 
he had comparatively little to say of 
either. He told us not all we would 
like to know concerning the other life, 
but all we need to know, and devoted 
the greater part of his teachings to the 
duties of this life. He apparently be- 
lieved that the best way to fit men for 
heaven in another world was to get 
them acclimated to heaven in this world. 
In fact, no man can go to heaven who 
does not take heaven with him. 

As is implied by the Lord's Prayer, 
the Kingdom of God comes in the earth 
just so far and just so fast as God's 
will is done by men as it is done by 
angels. Perfect harmony with God's 
will is perfect heaven. Self-will is dis- 

40 



My Religion in Everyday Life 

cord, and the essence of every kind of 
sin. No man is saved until he is saved 
from self-will, self-seeking or selfish- 
ness, which is the same thing; and soci- 
ety can never be saved until it is saved 
from selfishness. It is selfishness which 
creates discord and conflict between na- 
tions, races, classes, capital and labor, 
many husbands and wives. It is the 
great anti-social principle, the great 
disintegrating force. 

There can be no true oneness between 
God and man or between man and his 
fellow until selfishness has been con- 
quered; hence Jesus' unyielding insist- 
ence on its crucifixion. In our luxuri- 
ous and self-indulgent civilization we 
have well-nigh lost the meaning of the 
cross. We talk about our "crosses," 
meaning anything that crosses our in- 
clination. But the New Testament 
has nothing to say of crosses ; the word 

41 



My Religion in Everyday Life 

does not occur in the plural. It has 
much to say of the cross, by which it 
means death always. 

Men have glorified the cross in ar- 
chitecture, art and song; they have 
made its sign on the forehead; they 
have emblazoned it on banner and 
shield; they have fought for it and 
slain their enemies in its name ; they 
have lifted it high on dome and spire; 
they have stamped it on prayer-book 
and bible; they have beaten gold into 
its form and have worn it as an orna- 
ment; they have made it a dogma and 
wrangled over it; they have made it a 
fetish and worshiped it ; they have done 
pretty much everything with it except 
the one thing which Jesus required, 
namely, be crucified on it. 

According to the teaching of Jesus, 
no one becomes a follower of his until 
he accepts crucifixion, surrenders his 

42 



My Religion in Everyday Life 

wilL Self-abnegation is not the climax 
of the Christian life, as is often sup- 
posed, but its beginning. And the man 
or woman who knows nothing of self- 
abnegation knows nothing of Christian 
experience, knows nothing of the cross. 

When the great renunciation of self 
has been made, God's will becomes the 
law of life, and wholeness of life be- 
comes possible; but the old duality, ex- 
pressed by the '' sacred " and the " sec- 
ular," is not destroyed and this whole- 
ness realized until God's will is seen to 
comprehend nature and history. The 
Kingdom of God, as taught by Jesus, 
is large enough and noble enough to 
comprehend both. 

Just here I must take a moment to 
show that it is not unreasonable to rec- 
ognize God in nature and history, work- 
ing out His purposes of love. If like 
many intelligent men I were unable to 

4a 



My Religion in Everyday Life 

believe that there is a divine unity of 
purpose running through both, I could 
not have a rational belief that God's 
Kingdom of loving obedience is yet to 
fill the whole earth. 

The ancients knew nothing of nat- 
ural laws. In the processes of nature 
and the vicissitudes of life they saw the 
workings of a divine will or wills. But 
with the coming of science came the 
conception of natural law. In one field 
after another the question was raised, 
Is it will or is it law? And where law 
could be traced will was no longer 
recognized. God's will was seen only in 
that which w^as unusual and unaccount- 
able ; and as the reign of law was grad- 
ually discovered to embrace all things, 
God was gradually and rather uncere- 
moniously bowed out of His universe. 

As Emerson says: ^^ Persons are 
love's world." The law of gravitation 

44 



My Religion in Everyday Life 

long since compelled my respect, but it 
can never inspire my love; nor can I 
ever pray to it. Prayer is possible only 
in the presence of a will. The enthron- 
ing of law, therefore, tended to paralyze 
all piety. 

The ancient conception of a will with- 
out law was unscientific. The modern 
conception of law without will is unre- 
ligious. The true and coming concep- 
tion of will through law is both religious 
and scientific. 

In applied science men use natural 
laws to accomplish what those laws left 
to themselves never could have accom- 
plished. An aviator soars into the air 
not because he is able to suspend or ig- 
nore or violate natural laws, but because 
he has learned to make a skillful use 
of them. It is not will without law, 
neither is it law without will, but -will 
accomplishing itself through law. And 

45 



My Religion in Everyday Life 

if man can accomplish his will through 
law, why cannot God? If man can 
make the laws and forces of nature his 
obedient servants, why must God be 
their slave? If the course of nature is 
not fixed to man's limited intelligence, 
how can I believe that it is fixed to 
God's infinite intelligence? The scien- 
tist can do a thousand things impossible 
to the savage. Just in proportion as 
man gains a knowledge of nature's laws 
does his will become free to express it- 
self through them in ways once impossi- 
ble and even incredible to him. Shall I, 
then, believe that He who has perfect 
knowledge of all natural laws (His own 
laws) is fettered by them? Or is it 
more reasonable to believe that Infinite 
Intelligence makes them the medium 
through which He works His perfect 
will? 

This makes room for the fatherhood 

46 



My Religion in Everyday Life 

of God, for prayer and for providence, 
and brings God really close to us. 

The conception of the universe as an 
infinite machine in which humanity has 
been caught and is being ground up by 
inexorable law is as false as it is fright- 
ful. 

The fundamental postulate of the 
Christian religion, and of my faith, is 
that God is love. This compels me to 
believe that He is doing all that divine 
love, associated with divine wisdom and 
divine power, can possibly do to save 
the world from sin and its consequent 
miseries. It is impossible that infinite 
love should not choose the best possible 
end. It is impossible that infinite wis- 
dom should not select the best possible 
means to that end. It is impossible 
that infinite power should fail to accom- 
plish such an end by such means. 

Surely there is no higher good con- 
47 



My Religion in Everyday Life 

ceivable for this world than that all men 
should do God's will as it is done by- 
angels, that is, gladly, intelligently, and 
perfectly, which is the full coming of 
God's Kingdom in the world. It is, 
then, perfectly reasonable to believe 
that this is the end to which divine love 
has pledged divine wisdom and divine 
power ; and that to this end God is using 
nature's laws and forces which are per- 
fectly within His control, and is also 
using men as fast as they become co- 
laborers with Him by coming into har- 
mony with His great purpose. 

This conception of God's relations to 
man and nature brings Him very near 
to us, "nearer than hands and feet." 
Indeed, He is not far enough from us 
even to be near, for He is within us, en- 
lightening, inspiring, guiding. Whom 
does He guide if not those who seek to 
know His will that they may do it? 

48 



My Religion in Everyday Life 

Thus my religion has given me the 
assurance that I was right where God 
wanted me to be, and doing just the 
work He wanted me to do; and, of 
course this has been both satisfaction 
and strength to me. 

This conception of God in events 
enables me to believe with Paul that 
" all things work together for good to 
them that love God," which takes the 
bitterness out of disappointment and 
bereavement, and enables one to hope 
and be strong. 

As soon as it dawned on me that 
God's great .end in nature, in provi- 
dence and in revelation was not to get 
the largest possible number of indi- 
vidual souls out of an unfriendly world 
into a friendly heaven, but to make an 
ideal world, life had new meaning 
and joy for me, and my religion ex- 
panded so as to include the whole of it. 



My Religion in Everyday Life 

I saw that in order to an ideal world, 
society must be saved as well as the in- 
dividual, and that the body must be 
perfected as well as the soul, and that 
environment must be changed as well 
as character. Indeed, I have learned 
that environment is commonly (not al- 
ways) decisive in shaping character, 
that the body profoundly influences 
the soul and that the individual is in 
very large measure what society has 
made him. 

It is evident, therefore, that the 
Kingdom of God cannot fully come in 
the earth until society has been Chris- 
tianized, unfavorable environments 
transformed, and our physical lives 
raised to a much higher plane. All work 
for these ends, therefore, is work for 
the Kingdom and, if wisely directed, 
hastens its coming among men. 

Of course multitudes of men contrib- 

50 



My Religion in Everyday Life 

ute to human progress without intend- 
ing to do so, and deserve no credit for 
it, because their aim is not to help 
humanity, but themselves. It is a sore 
pity that they should miss the joy and 
inspiration and endless satisfaction of 
service; for its reward is not its wage, 
but its motive. 

When I understood that the King- 
dom of God meant an ideal world, in- 
cluding of course the physical as well 
as the spiritual, and that the two do not 
constitute a kingdom divided against 
itself, but that the physical serves the 
spiritual, while the spiritual glorifies 
the physical, then for me the so-called 
"secular" was eliminated; and now 

"There are no gentile oaks, no pagan pines; 
The grass beneath our feet is Christian 
grass." 

Everything that I can do to serve the 
Kingdom of God and hasten its com- 

51 



My Religion in Everyday Life 

ing is sacred, and whatever cannot be 
made to serve that Kingdom must not 
be done at all. 

The apostle's injunction, " Whether, 
therefore, ye eat or drink or whatso- 
ever ye do, do all to the glory of God," 
is no longer an impracticable counsel 
of perfection, but a practical working 
principle of everyday life. 

The application of this principle is 
made clear bv the three social laws — • 
the laws of the Kingdom — which Jesus 
laid down, namely : the law of Love, the 
law of Service, and the law of Sacrifice. 
The three may be expressed as one as 
follows: service inspired by love and 
measured by sacrifice. jNIy eating and 
drinking must be with reference to get- 
ting the largest and best possible serv- 
ice out of mind and body. The same 
object must be kept in view in the use 
of time and money and opportunities. 

52 



My Religion in Everyday Life 

Everything must be made a means to 
the service of the Kingdom as an end. 
This does not mean that giving a cer- 
tain proportion of time and money 
to service earns the right to use 
the remainder in self-gratification. 
This pleading, seductive self has 
been crucified, if we are followers of 
Christ, and all that we are and have, has 
been consecrated to the service of the 
Kingdom. This takes the very life of 
self, which is the reason Jesus called 
it, "taking up the cross," and Paul 
spoke of it as being "crucified with 
Christ.'' 

Of course I do not mean that one 
must trace the relation of every spe- 
cific act to the Kingdom. All our ac- 
tivities fall into certain great categories 
like work, recreation, the care of our 
bodies, our social and our political du- 
ties. We ought to see clearly that each 

53 



My Religion in Everyday Life 

class of activities furthers the King- 
dom, though not every specific act is 
traced to its ultimate bearing. 

However, the more distinctly we see 
the relation of all our activities to the 
Kingdom of God, the more constant 
and vivid will be the consciousness of 
God in our lives, and the more will that 
consciousness glorify the humblest act 
of life. 

As long as our ordinary activities 
constitute a drift-away from God, He 
must seem far off, an "Absentee God," 
as Carlyle says ; and it must be a never- 
ending struggle to keep near Him and 
have Him seem real. But when in one's 
daily work one can see the outworking 
of God's plan, and in the processes of 
nature, the ongoing of history and the 
progress of civilization, one can trace 
the coming of the Kingdom, everything 
reminds of Him, He becomes the great 

54 



My Religion in Everyday Life 

reality, the center of all things, the ob- 
ject of all activities. 

The idea that we are, as Paul says, 
" co-laborers with God unto the King- 
dom," that He is using us, our powers, 
our time, our substance and all our ac- 
tivities to help Him create an ideal 
world, makes religion practical, not 
theoretical, life not dogma, a matter of 
every day, not something to be laid 
away ^vith the Sunday clothes. 

There is a fine old Irish proverb, 
" God loves to be helped." As co-lab- 
orers with Him, we are His helpers in 
hastening the coming of the Kingdom. 
I know of a family in which there had 
recently been large property losses and 
much sickness. A small boy in the 
family prayed, "O Lord, make us 
rich and make us well, and then you 
can go.'' The religion of a great many 
people is simply the means by which 

55 



My Beligion in Everyday Life 

they hope to induce God to help them; 
but when we become co-laborers with 
God unto the Kingdom, our great long- 
ing is to help Him, and helping Him 
is our exceeding joy. 

Morever, we not only enter into high 
fellowship with the Highest, but we 
also become yoke-fellows and brothers 
of all that goodly company in all the 
ages and in every land who have helped 
to roll the world up hill. 

Because in some true sense I am 
God's helper, I am anxious to learn 
His methods so as to help as much as 
possible; and because I recognize God 
in nature, I recognize natural laws as 
His laws, and science as a revelation 
of Him. I, therefore, rejoice in every 
scientific discovery which I know 
enough to understand, and seek to make 
my methods scientific because God's 
methods are scientific. 

56 



My Religion in Everyday Life 

I am glad whenever anyone makes 
two blades of grass grow where only 
one grew before, because in some 
measure, however small, it hastens the 
coming of the Kingdom. I begin to 
understand what the apostle meant 
when he said, ''All things are yours." 
Everything that concerns humanity 
concerns me because it concerns the 
Kingdom of God. I can adapt and 
then adopt the famous apothegm of 
Terence, " I am a citizen of the King- 
dom, and nothing of man is for- 
eign to me." I am interested in the 
people who live on the other side of 
the globe, because their good or ill 
hastens or hinders the coming of the 
Kingdom; and for the same reason I 
am interested in the people who are to 
live five hundred or a thousand years 
hence, and would gladly do something 
or anything to serve them. 

57 



My Religion in Everyday Life 

My religion means to me loving and 
serving my fellowmen; not instead of 
loving God, but because I love God. 
The Master taught that to serve our 
fellows was to serve Him, and that to 
neglect them was to neglect Him. If 
my professed love to God does not ex- 
press itself in loving service to men, I 
have no valid evidence that it is genuine. 
" If we love not our brother whom we 
have seen, how can we love God whom 
we have not seen?" I do not believe 
that in the soul there are two water- 
tight compartments, one for love to 
God, the other for love to man, one of 
which may be full, while the other is 
empty. Christian love, which is disin- 
terested love, cannot be apportioned be- 
tween the divine and the human; what- 
ever is rendered to either is rendered to 
both. Cardinal Manning said to 
Henry George : " I love men because 

58 



My Religion in Everyday Life 

Jesus loved them." To which Mr, 
George replied: ''And I love Jesus 
because He loved men." The Cardi- 
nal's love for the Master inspired love 
for his fellows; the philanthropist's 
love for men inspired love for the Mas- 
ter. 

Disinterested love is a divine flame 
which rises heavenward whether first 
kindled by God or man. 

Thus my religion makes the whole 
world and everybody and everything in 
it immensely interesting to me. It 
glorifies my work (yes, glorifies is the 
right word). All that I do is part of a 
scheme of infinite importance, and no 
part of such a scheme can be trivial or 
commonplace. 

A part of my work is utterly dis- 
tasteful to me, but I can do it for the 
sake of the Kingdom and the King; 
and the greater the sacrifice, the greater 

59 



My Religion in Everyday Life 

the joy in making it. Hence my daily 
work is joy and gladness to me because 
service is joy; and many, many times 
I go to it with the sense of elation, the 
same lightness of heart and of foot 
that I felt as a boy when going a fish- 
ing, or nutting, or skating, and wanted 
to hunt up fences to jump over. 

It goes without saying that I have 
my infirmities and weaknesses. But 
I can say much worse than that 
against myself, for infirmities and 
weaknesses are not sins. My sins are 
needless and I am to blame for them, 
and much more to blame, I think, than 
most people, because I believe I have 
more help to resist sin than most 
people. But I am at peace with no sin, 
and at war with no duty, so that my 
religion gives me the assurance of for- 
giveness and the sense of peace. 

And during these fifty years since 

60 



My Religion in Everyday Life 

I made the great renunciation, I can 
see that by God's sufficient grace I 
have been able to overcome with fewer 
falls and less struggle. 

Thus my religion is a philosophy of 
life that works. It satisfies my mind, 
it warms my heart, it kindles my hope, 
it feeds my enthusiasm. It makes my 
life a joy and the life beyond life a 
greater joy, so that I have much to live 
for and more to die for. But heaven 
will keep, and I am willing to wait as 
long as I can help bring heaven to 
earth. 



61 



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